Fence-wire stretcher



(No Model.)

J. H. ALL-EN. FENCE WIRE STRE'I'GHER.

No. 600,242. Patented Mar 8', 1898.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH II. ALLEN, OF NEWV PALESTINE, MISSOURI.

FENCE-WIRE STRETCHER.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 600,242, dated March 8,1898.

Application filed August 3, 1897. Serial No. 646,865. (No model-l To azzwhom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOSEPH H. ALLEN, a citizen of the United States,residing at New Palestine, in the county of Cooper and State ofMissouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inFenceWVire Stretch ers; and I do declare the followingto be afull,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to theletters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification.

The invention relates to fence-wire stretchers; and it consists in theimprovement thereof as herein described, and pointed out in the claim.

Figure 1 of the drawings is an elevation in perspective to show theinvention applied; Fig. 2, a detail view showing the lever with itsslide-links and wire-holder; Fig. 3, an end View showing the hooks andclamp on the outer end of the bar, and Fig. 4 a detail view of the dogand chain. Fig. 5 is a detail view of the wire-guide.

In the drawings, A represents a quadrangular bar having the clamp a andhooks a a at one end, while the other is provided with the foot-piece ato be secured to the post B.

(J is a wire-guide having the V-slot 0, through which the wire is madeto pass and then to be gripped by a clamp d-on a slidelink D. E isanother slide-link on the opposite side of the lever to which both aresecured by end pivoted arms, the two links being oblong, so as to assumea right-angled or a diagonal position on the bar A.-

F is the lever attached loosely to the bar A, while G is a chainattached to the drive-dog H at one end and to the hook a at the other.

The mode of operation is as follows: I first make cross-marks on thepost along where the wires are to go and drive into the post the dogwhich carries the chain. Then I attach the wire to stretcher by firstpassing it through the slot 0 of the guide and fasten it in the clamp dof the slide-link D. Then holding the bar of stretcher at a right angleto the fence place the foot-piece against the post so as to bring itsmiddle over the line of the wire and carry the bar A around until theouter end is a little beyond the line of fence. Then fasten the outerend of the chain on hook or and work the lever to stretch the wire. Ifit is sufficiently taut, staple it to the post, but if not unhook thechain and hook it a link or two longer, so as to enable the clamp 01 totake another bite on the wire and stretch it again. The chain holds thelever in the desired position when it is hooked so as to be taut; butwhen the clamp 11 must he slipped back on the wire so as to take a.

new bite it is necessary to loosen the chain so as to move the leveraround. In order to slacken the wire, press the slide-link E back untilthe end of lever presses against the upper end of the slide-link D, whena pull on the lever will loosen its grip on the bar. To connect brokenwires, place one end in the clamp a and the other in the clamp d andwork the lever to bring them together, when the ends can be made fast.

Where it is desired to cable the stretcher to a post from which to pull,one endof the chain may be fastened in clamp a, while the other end ispassed around the post and caught on the hook a It will be observed thatI draw the wire to the end post in position to be nailed thereto withoutthe use of a separate post to pull from; also, that by attaching thewire to the stretcher and then pulling it back to get the foot againstthe post and the bar at right angles to fence, while the outer end ispulled around preparatory tohooking the chain, I obtain a superiorleverage for stretching the wire and render it unnecessary to take asecond pull in nine cases out of ten.

WVhat I claim as new is Afence-wire stretcher consisting of the bar Awith clamp a, the hooks a a the foot-piece a the wire-guide (l with theV-slot c, the slide-links D E and lever F connected by pivoted arms andthe chain and dog G H, the linkD being provided with a clamp d; Wherebythe said stretcher may be used in the manner and for the purposes setforth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH H. ALLEN.

Witnesses:

H. H. MILLER, FRANK R. CHAMBERS.

